(Generation X#61 (fb) - BTS) - Cordelia pretended to be in distress while out on a swim. Mondo dove after her, changing to water so he could easily reach her. Instead, he fell into the trap she'd set for him.

(Generation X '95 - BTS) - Cordelia wheeled Mondo, restrained and unconscious in a containment pod, into Shinobi Shaw's quarters. While Shaw and Cordelia were negotiating, armed forces belonging to the mysterious Barrington (secretly Black Tom Cassidy) attacked the suite. They captured the pod containing Mondo.

(Generation X I#61 (fb) ) - Realizing Mondo's potential, Black Tom quickly had a clone created of the mutant. This nearly perfect genetic copy possessed all of the original's abilities and memories, but came programmed with a subtle, yet total loyalty towards Tom. He was placed back into the pod and cared for by forces loyal to "Barrington".

(Generation X '95) - The clone eventually freed himself and, believing he was Mondo, went to look for Cordelia who he didn't know was responsible for his capture. His search eventually led to an encounter with Generation X (who were contacted by Cordelia claiming she needed help finding her captured boyfriend Mondo). The Mondo clone ended up joining Generation X which played right into Black Tom's plans. Generation X happily accepted the cheerful, kind hearted "Mondo" into their midst. Believing Cordelia was still his girlfriend, he said goodbye to her when she expressed an interest to move on. Cordelia didn't even stick around to attend the orientation party the team was throwing in his honor.

(Generation X#10) - Overjoyed by the fact his "newly made friends" had gone through the trouble of dressing up for his orientation party at the Academy's Proudstar Hall, "Mondo" warmly welcomed Husk and Skin. Angelo Espinosa tried to formally introduce himself to "Mondo", having missed his debut. When Angelo asked the goofy Samoan to "give him five", the super strong omnimorph slapped him across the room. Not too long after that, the celebrations were interrupted when M found headmaster Sean Cassidy comatose in his room. She rushed him to the medical bay while mentally contacting Frost and the others. "Mondo" accompanied them and witnessed how Frost tried to save the nearly deceased Banshee by acting as a psionic anchor. This caused her to slip into a coma as well. Jubilee and "Mondo" stayed behind to care for Frost while the others took Banshee to the nearest hospital. Holding the unconscious Emma in his arms, the clone asked a worried Jubilee if it was always this exciting around here.

(Generation X#11) - "Mondo" watched Jubilee in the Academy's medical bay as the young girl shifted her attention from the comatose Emma to Penance, the bay's equally unresponsive patient. Annoyed at "Mondo" for staring at her, Jubilee went off at him. However, he assured her that both Emma and Penance would be fine, especially with such a good friend looking out for them. Some time later, "Mondo" was present when Emma woke up after helping save Banshee on the psychic plane. He then accompanied Emma and Jubilee to welcome Generation X who returned with the newly revived Banshee after having faced Omega Red (who turned out to be the cause of Banshee's mysterious collapse). In the aftermath, they had a playful get together which was overheard by Emplate's accomplice "Mole". Hearing the team was all together and had its guard down convinced the villain the time had come to strike back at Gen X and reclaim Penance.

(Generation X: Opening Volley#1) - "Mondo" was roped into playing a round of volleyball with the rest of the team. Completely clueless about the rules of the game or the idea of competition in the first place, the Samoan just stood there only for the ball to hit him in the head. His mutant powers kicked in, absorbing the ball only to fire it from his belly at high speeds moments later, hitting Skin like a cannonball. The Gen X'ers had a good natured laugh about the affair.

(Generation X#12) - Banshee took "Mondo" and the other members of Generation X on a mandatory excursion to Boston where they were scheduled to attend that evening's performance at the local opera house. Sean gave his pupils the afternoon off, however which led to "Mondo", Husk, Jubilee and Synch grabbing a bite to eat at a local restaurant. Sensing Paige was pensive, "Mondo" tried to find out what was bothering her. Guthrie admitted he was having feelings for a friend but that it would never work out. Commenting that "never" was a long time, "Mondo" and the others were then overtaken by the noxious vapors of Emplate's gaseous servant Vincente who hid inside one of the dishes.

(Generation X#12 - BTS) - Vincente took his overwhelmed prisoners back to the Massachusetts Academy where Emplate and the others had also brought the remaining, captive Gen X members. The team was restrained while Emplate waited for his sister M to return. When she did, she was stunned.

(Generation X#13) - "Mondo" remained unconscious and unresponsive while M escaped from Emplate and he sent his minions after her. He continued to nap while the revived Jubilee started to verbally insult Emplate, hoping to distract the villain into slipping up.

(Generation X#14) - Fed up with Jubilee's constant needling, Emplate decided to feed on her. By doing so, he also absorbed her pyrokinetic powers but he waso distracted and mad that he couldn't control these volatile abilities. As a result, Emplate unleashed a blast that freed Generation X while leaving himself dazed and confused on the ground. Banshee quickly took charge, ordering Husk to change her skin and finish off Emplate while sending "Mondo" and Skin out to round up his accomplices. Skin and "Mondo" searched the school grounds, eventually ending up in the Biosphere where they still couldn't find any trace of Emplate's flunky Bulwark. "Mondo" had even searched for him underground, leading both teens to conclude he must have vanished through unknown means. With a big grin on his face "Mondo" commented that the fact nothing ever seemed to be exactly what it appears to be was what he enjoyed most about hanging with Generation X (see comments).

(Generation X#18 - BTS) - Black Tom's programming kicked in, making "Mondo" even more susceptible to his master's commands.

(Generation X#18) - With Generation X gone, the team's junior members Artie and Leech had the run of the place, gleefully enjoying their spare time in their Biosphere treehouse. "Mondo" observed them from a distance, asking Black Tom if the time was ripe to strike. Cassidy assured his accomplice he wouldn't have to wait long.

(Generation X#20) - "Mondo" attended a barbecue party in the Biosphere to welcome the team back, as well as celebrating the arrival of the recently orphaned Franklin Richards (following the Onslaught disaster) who was accompanied to the Academy by his grandfather Nathaniel. "Mondo" was on hand to catch Emma Frost who was unexpectedly visited by Nightmare who warned her about a coming tragedy by attacking her through a salad. He also witnessed how Banshee fielded a call from the team's wayward members Skin and Chamber on their way back home. "Mondo" was slightly disappointed Sean didn't bother to say 'hi' to Angelo and Jonothon on his behalf. Sometime later, he led a campfire chant with Leech, Artie, Franklin and the others.

(Generation X#21) - "Mondo" and the others all took Hank McCoy's xenobiology mid-term exam. Even with McCoy himself administering the exam, "Mondo" had trouble keeping his eyes open. Even as his classmates were hard at work trying to ace the test, "Mondo" dozed off and started snoring. Not even the Beast's none too suble poke could get him to wake up. After the test, "Mondo" and the other members were stunned to find that M had created the entire Academy out of origami and scoffed at M's claims she never had any similar spells before. This led Beast to conclude M was indeed autistic.

(Generation X '96) - While on a field trip to New York, "Mondo" and the others inadvertently got involved in a sting operation led by the Fenris twins Andrea and Andreas von Strucker who believed the young mutants were somehow involved. Synch, Skin and Banshee were captured and exposed to the effects of the mutagen wave generator Fenris had come to New York for. As a result, the three mutants experienced severe agony, pain, nausea and panic as their bodies started destroying themselves cell by cell while hypercharging their abilities. This proved their salvation, when Synch  used his enhanced bio-aura to take on Fenris' powers and used them to blast free. When "Mondo" and the other members of Generation X arrived, locating them thanks to Synch's explosion, Synch copied the clone's omnimorph powers to shield the team from the explosion set off by Fenris who decided to beat a strategic retreat.

(X-Men Annual '96) - "Mondo", along with the other members of Generation X, joined the X-Men and X-Force for a get together and barbecue at the Xavier Institute. Their meeting was briefly interrupted by a damaged Sentinel left over from Onslaught's attack on New York. At the end of the day, joined by Gateway, the teams posed for a unique group photo.

(Generation X#23 - BTS) - Black Tom Cassidy, recently transformed into a creature of living wood, observed Generation X while planning his inevitable attack on his cousin Sean and his pupils.

(Generation X#24) - Sensing Black Tom's presence on the school grounds, "Mondo" went out to meet with him. He admitted to be tired of waiting and wanted to attack. Black Tom once again insisted he be patient, but promised the order would come sooner than he thought.

(Generation X#25 - BTS) - "Mondo" was given the attack order by Black Tom who by now had become convinced he should be teaching the next generation of mutants instead of his cousin Sean. Black Tom decided to take Generation X away from Banshee. He ordered "Mondo" to capture his teammates while he himself took over the Biosphere. When "Mondo" returned with everyone except Jubilee, Cassidy placed them inside a bio-organic transport controlled by his consciousness. The team was sent thousands of miles away to the bottom of the Indian Ocean for safekeeping. "Mondo" was then ordered to capture Banshee.

(Generation X#25) - "Mondo" caught up with Banshee and slammed him through the stained glass windows of the Academy's chapel. Grabbing his former teacher, "Mondo" revealed that he'd been studying them for months before turning Sean over to the waiting Black Tom. "Mondo" was then sent after Jubilee. By the time he'd located her, she'd already ran into Bastion who hid around the Academy on an Operation: Zero Tolerance recon mission. Not too impressed with "Mondo", by now shifted into a grotesque tree version of himself, Bastion casually pointed one of his guns and shot his enemy through the head. "Mondo" seemingly died on the spot, even as Bastion took Jubilee back to his base for questioning.

Comments: Created by Scott Lobdell (writer), Chris Bachalo (pencils), Mark Buckingham (inks).

"Mondo" might have been the biggest fake-out of Lobdell's tenure on Generation X. He was introduced in #3, with very little information about the guy other than that he'd used his gift to save children. Two months later the Age of Apocalypse took over the X-Universe. On Earth-295, there was a team of young mutants called Generation Next that featured a very heroic, capable character called Mondo. So, by the time we got back to the 616 proper, it only made sense "our" Mondo would be just as brave and caring... NOT!
...And he turned out to be a clone as well. Ah, the mid 90s :-)

While the whole "Mondo is a traitor" storyline certainly worked, it was a bit unexpected. All the early 1994 Generation X previews teased him as a regular member with the potential to become a major player. That never worked out, though. A possible explanation might be WildStorm launching Gen13 in February, 1994. That team featured Grunge, a laid back omnimorph who could absorb the properties of any material he touched. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Still, a subtle case can be made to point out there was something off about "Mondo" from the word go. For instance, other than the brief fight scenes featured in Generation X '95, "Mondo" never ever used his powers to aid Generation X in any way. The one time he was actually useful in combat was Generation X Annual '96, but only because Synch took over his abilities. Other than that, he's in the background or willingly staying behind to care for the injured.

Be that as it may, that still doesn't explain the weird disconnect that occurs after Generation X#14, which ended with Emplate infecting Synch who was sent back to St. Louis to kill his family. This led Emma and Sean to rush to the family's aid, only bringing the most "normal" looking Gen X'ers with them so they won't raise any unnecessary suspicions. That means Skin and Chamber were forced to stay home, but "Mondo" isn't even mentioned... And he looked pretty normal, even for a clone.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
"Mondo" should not be confused with

• Mondo, the original Samoan omnimorph @ Generation X#3
• Mondo Paine, Edmondo Paina, mercenary @ Punisher II#85
• Or any other "Mondo" characters

images: (without ads)
Generation X#25, p11, pan1 (main image)
Generation X '95, p17, pan3 (awakens)
Generation X#10, p4, pans3&4 (gives Skin five Samoan style)
Generation X#14, p14, pan3 (foreshadowing)
Generation X#21, p3, pan5 (dozes off during a test)
Generation X#25, p11, pan3,4,5 (killed by Bastion)

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